Press Releases
Chairman Scott Urges Yes Vote on National Apprenticeship Act
11.19.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) urged his colleagues to vote for the National Apprenticeship Act of 2020, which invests $3.5 billion in our apprenticeship system, ensures consistency and quality across apprenticeships, and expands opportunities for diverse workers in emerging sectors. "Our economy continues to permanently lose jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, it is estimated that 7 million of those who lose their jobs… Continue Reading
Keeping All Students Safe Act: What People Are Saying
11.19.20 WASHINGTON - The Keeping All Students Safe Act is a bold plan to protect students from dangerous seclusion and restraint discipline practices in schools and better equip school personnel with the tools to develop safer, evidence-based proactive strategies. Here's what some of the nation's leading are saying about the bill: The Arc: "It has now been a full decade since the House of Representatives passed a bill to limit restraint and seclusion in schools. Since then, hundreds of thousands of st… Continue Reading
Top Democrats Unveil Bill to Protect Students from Dangerous Seclusion and Restraint Practices
11.19.20 WASHINGTON - Today, top Democrats in both the House and the Senate introduced the Keeping All Students Safe Act to protect students from dangerous seclusion and restraint discipline practices in school. The bill is sponsored by Congressman Don Beyer (VA-08), Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03), Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA), and Congressman Donald McEachin (VA-04).… Continue Reading
Democratic Health Leaders Urge Reversal After Trump Admin Approves Illegal Georgia Waivers That Threaten Families’ Health Care
11.13.20 WASHINGTON - House and Senate Democratic health care leaders called on the Trump administration to reverse its recent approval of Georgia waivers that would make health care less accessible in the state. House Education and Labor Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Senate Health, Education and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray, D-Wash., House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., House Energy and Commerce Comm… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on Supreme Court Oral Arguments on the Fate of the Affordable Care Act
11.10.20 WASHINGTON - Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) released the following statement on today's arguments in the California v. Texas case before the Supreme Court. "As we continue to confront the worst public health emergency in recent history, our first priority must be to protect Americans' health and wellbeing. Yet, today, in the midst of a global health pandemic, a group of Republican Attorneys General are arguing to the Supreme Court that the Affordable C… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott to Trump Administration: Preserve Records to Ensure Smooth Transition to Biden Administration
11.09.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) wrote to Departments and agencies under the Committee's jurisdiction requesting written assurances that during the upcoming presidential transition, it maintains records as required by the Federal Records Act (FRA). In the letters, Chairman Scott notes FRA requires all Departments and agencies in the Executive Branch to collect, retain, and preserve records that document "the transaction of public bu… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on 2020 Election Results
11.07.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the first woman and person of color to hold this position, were announced the winners of the 2020 election. "This election, Americans made a clear choice. They chose hope over fear, unity over division, and science over fiction. In the midst of a global pandemic and economic crisis, Americans expect us to lead. It is now our responsibi… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on October Jobs Report
11.06.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Bobby Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the economy added 638,000 jobs in October with the unemployment rate at 6.9 percent. "For months now, President Trump has made misleading claims about the economy despite the fact that the country is facing one of the worst economic and public health crises in history. Today's jobs report is further evidence of how this administration's failed response to the pandemic con… Continue Reading
Committee Report Details How the Trump Administration Prioritizes ‘Politics Over People’
11.02.20 WASHINGTON - Today, the Committee on Education and Labor released a report highlighting its oversight of the Trump administration. The report, "Politics Over People: How the Administration's Corruption, Cover-Ups, and Incompetence Hurts the American People," outlines how the Committee - through hundreds of letters, meetings, public hearings, and even subpoenas - exercised its oversight authority to hold the administration accountable. Over the last four years, the Trump administration repeate… Continue Reading
House Democratic Health Leaders Slam Trump Administration’s Approval of Georgia’s 1332 Waiver Request
11.02.20 WASHINGTON - Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA), and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) released the following statement after Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma announced that the Trump Administration will grant the state of Georgia's Section 1332 waiver request to eliminate HealthCare.gov without replacing it with a State-based Ma… Continue Reading
Chairman Scott Statement on President Trump’s Absurd Victory Lap on the Release of GDP Growth Estimates
10.30.20 WASHINGTON - Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) released the following statement after the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its estimates for third-quarter GDP growth. "Yesterday, President Trump absurdly and misleadingly claimed that this quarter's GDP growth was the 'Biggest and Best in the History.' In fact, this quarter only recovered less than two-thirds of the ground lost in the first two quarters of 2020. That includes the second quarter which was the worst on record, more tha… Continue Reading
Save Education Jobs Act of 2020: What People Are Saying
10.27.20 WASHINGTON - The Save Education Jobs Act of 2020 is a bold plan to stabilize the education workforce, mitigate the impact of student learning loss, and stimulate the economic recovery for the long-term. Here's what the nation's leading education organizations are saying about the bill: American Federation of Teachers (AFT): "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic recession has created a crisis for our communities: millions of jobs lost in our schools. These job losses put edu… Continue Reading
New Documents Show Department of Education Froze Tool to Help Defrauded Student Borrowers
10.27.20 WASHINGTON -Today, Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, the Chairman of the Committee on Education and Labor, and Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, released new documents detailing how the Department of Education froze a tool designed to ease the Borrower Defense application process for borrowers who were ripped off by their schools, typically for-profit colleges. "We are deeply troubled that the Department of Education halted a web tool to help simpli… Continue Reading
House Education Leaders Introduce Legislation to Save Nearly 4 Million Education Jobs, Spur Economic Growth in the Wake of COVID-19 Pandemic
10.27.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (CT-05), Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Chairman Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Mariana Islands-at Large), and Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03), introduced legislation to save nearly 4 million education jobs, spur economic growth in the midst of an economic crisis, and help mitigate the impacts of students' learning loss as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since February of this year, more K-12 jobs have be… Continue Reading
House Democrats to DOL: Proposed Rule to Increase Employee Misclassification Will Cost Workers and the Economy
10.27.20 WASHINGTON - Today, led by Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Workforce Protections Subcommittee Chair Alma Adams (NC-12), over 100 House Democrats wrote to Department of Labor Secretary Scalia opposing the Department's proposal to narrow its interpretation of employee status under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), leaving workers even more vulnerable to employee misclassification. The Members express deep concern that the proposal will have wide rea… Continue Reading
White House’s Plan to Study Multiemployer Pensions is Not the Solution that Workers, Retirees, and Businesses Deserve
10.22.20 WASHINGTON - Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) issued the following statement after the White House announced a presidential memorandum to study the multiemployer pensions crisis. "After nearly four years in office and less than two weeks before the election, the White House finally woke up to the reality that there's a multiemployer pensions crisis. Unfortunately, instead of championing the responsible solution in the House-passed Heroes Act, the White H… Continue Reading
Faced with Obstruction from ED, Chairman Scott Subpoenas ED Officials Regarding Dream Center Scandal
10.22.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) subpoenaed several Education Department career staff for their deposition in an investigation into the Department's role in the misconduct of Dream Center Education Holdings, a for-profit higher education company. After over a year of investigation, the Committee found that Under Secretary Diane Auer Jones - a former for-profit education lobbyist - worked extensively on behalf of Dream Center despite knowing that two of its schools had… Continue Reading
Committee Report Details Years-Long Attacks on Workers’ Rights, Unions by Trump Administration’s NLRB
10.14.20 WASHINGTON - Today, the Committee on Education and Labor released a report chronicling the attacks on workers' rights and unions by the Trump administration's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The report compiles years of Committee oversight and details how the NLRB, the federal agency charged with protecting most private sector workers' right to organize, has been plagued by corruption, conflicts, and crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that far too many workers do not have ac… Continue Reading
Labor Leaders to OSHA: Changing Reporting Requirements for COVID-19 Workplace Illness Hurts Workers and Hinders Ability to Control Pandemic
10.14.20 WASHINGTON - Today, Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Chair Alma Adams (NC-12) wrote to the heads of the Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) questioning a recent OSHA policy change that will result in sharply reduced reporting of COVID-related workplace hospitalizations and fatalities and undermine efforts to protect the safety of workers. OSHA requires workplace fatali… Continue Reading
New Government Watchdog Report: Students Impacted by Disasters Hurt More by Pandemic
10.14.20 WASHINGTON - Committee on Education and Labor Chairman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (VA-03) and Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Chairman Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Mariana Islands) issued the following statement after the Government Accountability Office released a report finding that the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered and worsened K-12 schools' recovery from recent natural disasters across the country. "The GAO's new report confirms that the failed response to the … Continue Reading